Obituaries | 1980-1989

PENNY Z. APTER, 93, a freelance photographer who received her undergraduate degree in art history at age 62, died May 27, 2017. As a community volunteer, she worked weekly at the soup kitchen in Middletown for 30 years; she had also been an administrative assistant at Wesleyan for many years. She was the first woman elected to the Portland (Conn.) Board of Education. An amateur photographer, she worked entirely in black and white and developed the photos herself. She had several public showings of her work. She was also a lifelong accomplished classical pianist and an avid duplicate bridge player. Her husband, Stanley Apter, D.D.S., predeceased her, as did a close companion, Al Tager. Among those who survive are her daughter; her son, Robert L. Apter ’70; seven grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; her sister; and several lifelong close friends, including Betsy and Al Crosswell, Mel Ellis, and Jackie Zwillinger.

JOHN B. LOBKOWICZ, a writer and marketing executive, died July 23, 2017. He was 60. After graduation from Wesleyan, he began his career in advertising in New York City. In the mid-1990s he moved to Prague, working in advertising and branding. He later founded a magazine featuring politics, health, travel, and the arts in the Czech Republic and Europe. His special interests included poetry and literature. He is survived by his wife, Irena; his mother, Brooks Lobkowicz; two brothers; one sister; a stepdaughter; and five nieces and nephews.

JENNIFER F. LINK, an artist and poet, died Mar. 10, 2017, at age 54. After receiving her degree cum laude, she moved to San Francisco, where she worked for the Jewish Community Relations Council for almost 10 years while also pursuing her training in fine arts. She received an MFA degree from the University of San Francisco. Her work has been exhibited in numerous shows and online journals across the county, and she was a master of printmaking and collage. She taught art to children and collaborated on poetry and photography projects. She was also an avid genealogist. Survivors include her mother, Deborah S. Link, M.D., two sisters, six nieces and nephews, her aunt, and three cousins.

DALE P. ANDREWS, a scholar in homiletics and a teacher, minister, and social activist, died June 23, 2017. He was 55. A double major in religion and sociology, he received a master’s of divinity in 1991 from the Princeton Theological Seminary with a concentration in clinical social work. He then was a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford, where he conducted independent research in historical studies on Methodism and preaching in the early church. He earned another master’s in 1997 and a PhD in 1998 from the Vanderbilt University Graduate Department of Religion, where he was a Dorothy Danforth Compton Fellow. Enrolled in the homiletics and in the religion and personality degree program, he was awarded a dissertation fellowship from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He taught at the Louisville seminary and at the Boston University School of Theology prior to coming to Vanderbilt University in 2010, where he was the Distinguished Professor of Homiletics, Social Justice, and Practical Theology, and the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair. For the past year he had been developing a curriculum for training activists and scholars on how to address ongoing and emerging issues related to racial justice, and he was the co-founder of a program funded by the Lilly Endowment to train coaches who help preachers improve and enrich their sermon preparation and communication skills. The author or editor of numerous books, he was also an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zionist Church. Survivors include his wife, Barbara, and two children.

MARK P. ANDERSON, a corporate attorney, died Dec. 20, 2016, at age 57. After earning his law degree at the University of Connecticut School of Law, he worked for Shipman and Goodwin before joining the Travelers Insurance Company Special Liabilities Group, where he spent 26 years. At Wesleyan he was an All-American shortstop; he was inducted into the Wesleyan Baseball Wall of Fame. He was an avid reader and he also coached his sons’ youth baseball teams in Hebron, Conn. Survivors include his wife, Juleann Quigley Anderson ’81, MAL’98; his parents; two sons; his sisters; several aunts; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

ANNA DEWDNEY, a children’s author, illustrator, and educator, died Sept. 3, 2016, after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. She was 50. After receiving her degree in art, she worked at several jobs, including teaching art and history at a boarding school. Her dream to become a full-time author and illustrator began with her artwork for The Peppermint Race (Henry Holt, 1994). She went on to illustrate a number of other children’s chapter books in the 1990s. In 2005, Viking published the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated, Llama, Llama Red Pajama. That was the genesis of a series that now contains more than 10 titles and has sold more than 10 million copies combined. An animated series is due out in 2017. She made many school, library, and event appearances, where she spoke passionately about her work and children’s literacy. She published a 2013 opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in which she wrote that “empathy is as important as literacy” when introducing children to reading. By reading with a child, “we are teaching that child to be human,” and the act enables the child “to see the world through someone else’s eyes.” She is survived by her partner, Reed Duncan, and two grown daughters.

NICHOLAS W. WALTNER, an investment banker, died Aug. 6, 2016, as a result of complications from an auto accident. He was 52. At Wesleyan he majored in German and Physics. After graduation he started a successful career in investment banking, working for Paine Webber before attending the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. After business school he joined Salomon Brothers, where he spent much of his career. Later, he also worked for Citigroup and Banc of America Securities. His career took him around the world and he lived in New York, Zurich, and Tokyo. He was fluent in German, Japanese, and Spanish. An avid endurance athlete, he competed in ultra-endurance events, biked alone across the U.S., and raced in multiple triathlons. In 2002 he and his family moved back to Seattle, where he led several real estate and investment ventures, studied for his degree in computational linguistics at the University of Washington, and was active in the Catholic Church. Among those who survive are his wife, Silvia Coxe Waltner; three children, including Olivia Waltner ’20; his brother; and a large extended family.

SARAH RACHEL NAZIMOVA-BAUM, 52, an art therapist, interfaith hospital chaplain, and spiritual director, died Mar. 2, 2016. An art history major who was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she combined her interests in psychology and art by earning a master’s degree in art therapy at New York University. She practiced at North Central Bronx Hospital and at other programs in New York, often focusing on geriatric populations. She then became interested in spirituality and studied chaplaincy. She interned as an interfaith hospital chaplain before running the New York Intern Program, an AmeriCorps service program in Harlem. There she supervised and mentored recent college graduates in a program combining social services, spiritual growth, and intentional community. Following that, at the time she was diagnosed with the cancer to which she later succumbed, she was counseling people experiencing life crises for LifeNet, at the Mental Health Association of New York City. She earned a second master’s, in spiritual direction, at the General Theological Seminary, and became a spiritual director. She co-founded the Spiritual Arts Practice, in which people were invited to make art with prayer and to pray through making art. In addition to her husband, Mark Nazimova, her son survives, as do her mother, her brother, her in-laws, and a very large extended family.

NANCY MYRON CROWN, a senior vice president at Bank of America who developed affordable housing around the U.S., died June 11, 2016. She was 54. After receiving a degree from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business, she began her career in Chicago with National Westminster Bank and later at First Chicago and the City of Chicago Department of Housing before moving to Charlotte, N.C., in 1997 to work for NationsBank/Bank of America. At the Bank of American Community Development Corporation she developed affordable housing in cities around the country, and the impact on these cities will be one of her lasting legacies. She also served on multiple committees at her church and was on the boards of several community organizations. Just prior to her sudden passing, her frustration with the divisive political climate in the U.S. drove her to found, with her sisters, a grassroots effort named Bridge the Political Divide, which was meant to encourage civil political discourse and increased bipartisanship and compromise. She is survived by her very close family: two children, three sisters, four nieces and nephews, and an aunt.

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From the family: Nancy Myron Crown, the devoted and fabulous mother of Molly and Sam, died suddenly on June 11, 2016. In addition to her children, Nancy is survived by her very close family; Jane Crown of Charlotte, NC, Susan Crown and Greg Toto and their children Katherine and George of Piedmont, CA and Mary Crown and William Ellis and their children Corson and Simon of Wellesley, MA, along with her 96-year old aunt, C. Elizabeth Crown of Media, PA. Nancy and her three sisters had a profound bond, facilitated by constant group texting and frequent calls. Their deep love and support to each other and their families has helped them deal with what ever challenges came their way. Nancy was born in Evanston, IL in 1962 to Joseph and Mary Lou Crown, and reared in Poughkeepsie, NY. She graduated from Wesleyan University and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business. She began her career in Chicago with National Westminster Bank and later at First Chicago and the City of Chicago Department of Housing before moving to Charlotte in 1997 to work for Nation’s Bank / Bank of America. Since then Nancy had her ideal job at Bank of America Community Development Corporation where she developed affordable housing in cities around the country. The impact on these communities will be one of her lasting legacies. Nancy had a fixed moral compass and a great and genuine interest in others. She was generous with her time, serving on multiple committees at her church, Holy Comforter, and on the boards of several community organizations, including the Charlotte Housing Authority. Just recently, her frustration with the divisive political climate in the country drove her to found, with her sisters, a grassroots effort to encourage civil political discourse and increased bipartisanship and compromise named Bridge the Political Divide. A voracious reader, Nancy could always be counted on for a good book recommendation. She had a wonderful sense of humor, loved Diet Coke, her dog Marty, but most of all, Nancy loved being a mom to Molly and Sam, who were, without a doubt, the greatest joy of her life. Nancy somehow helped everyone to be a better version of his or herself. Her large group of friends from the many times and aspects of her life is testament to this. Nancy was loved by many, will be missed by those who knew her well, and her passing is a great loss to those who had not yet had the privilege of knowing her. It was always a gift to be in her presence.. In lieu of flowers, please consider signing the petition at BridgeThePoliticalDivide.com. Charitable donations can be made to Loaves and Fishes, Charlotte, NC.

 

PAULA BLANK, a longtime professor of English at William & Mary College, died Aug. 21, 2016. She was 57. A professor at William & Mary since 1992, she was internationally known for her scholarship in Early Modern English. She specialized in Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry and poetics, linguistics and literature, Renaissance gender and sexuality. She was the recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center (two times), from the Folger Shakespeare Library (two times), and from the American Council of Learned Societies. A highly respected educator on her campus, in 2010 she received the annual Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, and she served as the Margaret L. Hamilton Professor of English. She had also served on the Modern Language Association’s executive committee and on the advisory board for the publications of the Modern Language Association. Her child, Jae S. Aron ’11, and her former husband, Paul D. Aron ’78, survive.